Interested
in Media Literacy?
Thanks for visiting MediaLiteracy.com to learn more about the important
(and growing) field of media literacy education. It's so important
for both children and adults to become critical thinkers and viewers
of all forms of media messages.
Kids (and adults) love media! Helping them learn
to analyze media messages is a fun and interesting activity. A huge
amount of material is available to help community leaders, youth
advocates, religious educators, concerned citizens and others introducing
media education to their community.
| The tough
part is knowing where to start.
As an individual,
you may have limited success on your own. It takes awhile
for people to understand what media literacy is and why it's
important, and you need to build a team of media literacy
friends who can create synergy and "critical mass"
for making something happen. |
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This is not as hard as
it may sound. It just won't happen overnight.
Begin with these steps. We give you an estimate
of how much time you might spend on each. Come back often, and sign
up for our Email news of additions to this site and other media
literacy news.
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(5-10
minutes) Familiarize yourself with the varying definitions
of “ what
is media literacy? ” Read everything there. Figure
out how to explain what media literacy is (and why it's important)
in a few sentences that will capture people's interest quickly. |
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(15-30
minutes) Visit others sections of this site, plus these
other websites (a new window
will open for each):
- Media
Awareness Network This site's comprehensive Parents
section has good general material, with special sections
on Marketing & Consumerism, TV, the Internet and more.
Be sure to see the Media Issues and Special Initiatives
section on the left navigation bar.
- Center
for Media Literacy, with the largest collection of materials
for media education.
- Media
Literacy Clearinghouse has a wealth of information and
links on a wide variety of topics.
- If you're interested in parent/family issues, visit our
Kids, Parents & Media page
for many links to additional resources.
- Religious educators should also visit our Faith-based
Media Ed page.
If you find a topic
you're especially interested in, use the advanced search function
on this site to search the top
media literacy sites on the internet. Your results will
be much more focused and you'll save time compared to using
a general search engine. |
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(2
months?) Arm yourself with materials such as the print
catalog from the Center for
Media Literacy . (Call CML/GPN and ask them to send you
a small quantity.) Talk to teachers, school administrators,
school and public librarians, youth club directors, and other
community leaders, and give them a copy of the catalog. Notice
who responds positively and with passion. These individuals
can become a member of your team. |
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(2-10
hours) When you have at least two other people who
are excited about media literacy and want to make something
happen, get everyone together to talk about what you can do.
Often, a good first step is to have someone give a community
presentation to which the public can be invited. (This is
easier in smaller towns and cities where publicity is easier.)
Obviously, everyone
to whom you previously gave a CML catalog should be on the
invitation list. You will also probably need to make phone
calls to urge them to come.
You may feel qualified to give the
presentation yourself. Or, you might visit our Media
Literacy Speakers Bureau™ here on this website to find
a media literacy speaker/consultant in your region of the
country. If you need to raise money to pay speaker fees, try
giving presentation to local service clubs (Rotary, Elks,
AAUW, etc.) and ask for donations to help pay a speaker. When
you stress the importance of teaching children about the power
of media, adults often respond very quickly. |
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Stay focused on where you can best achieve
some results. If schoolteachers and adminstrators are not
responsive, try youth group leaders or religious youth leaders.
Support the people who show the most interest, and help them
build their program, even if it doesn't match your original,
larger vision.
Check these other
resources for ideas and support:
- Organizations:
Check our Community page, and
review our Calendar of conferences
& events
- Media literacy listserves and
Forums (online discussion groups): see our Community
page.
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Thank you for
your support of media literacy. Your work is important and will
make a real difference in people's lives. Let
us know if there's anything we can do to help.
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